Steve has been racing on the 160 since April. If you remember back, he used an F2 FX V at the Europeans in Spain, but talking to him after that event he wasn't happy with how the F2 was stalling slightly in super light winds when pumping back onto the plane from a tack. So the week after he tried out the 161 in the Euro-Cup, Portimao. Despite winning nearly all the races (not the biggest fleet at that event), his comments were that he'd "never sail the 161 again". lol.

Testing it against the 161 he believed the 160 was faster in windy conditions. Not that we get windy conditions at any event in Europe these days, but Steve's goal has always been the Worlds in Brazil. So I think he opted to get the 160 dialled all season to be ready for the Worlds.

The jury is out on which board is faster. Personally, I'm very happy with my 161, and I did a lot of testing against my 160 to be sure. Steve told me he thought the nose on the 161 was too sharp at the corners, and would catch on the waves downwind. He also thought the 160's nose was too thick and blunt, also catching waves downwind (which is why Fanatic boards always had thin noses, and no doubt we'll see a thinner nose on the new Gaastra FW board), but it wasn't as bad as the 161.

The general consensus I felt in Europe, was that the 161 was great if you could find a fin to get it to work. The 160 would work with nearly any fin. The 161 is not a bad board, I just felt it took a lot more to get the best out of it than the 160 did. That's ok, I like the challenge, and I will continue to use my 161 this season...

The problem is finding the right fin for it. Its all good to say that an R19 S-- is the best fin, but I tried about 5 of them and only found one that I liked. The flex characteristics of the Kashy and new Select fins better suit the 161 and I think you'll find the top guys on it in Brazil are all using Kashy's (Steve used a Kashy most of the season btw), like Vesterstrom / Schurmann etc. But if you haven't got $1250 to spend don't worry, there's new Deb's with Kashy-like outlines in Brazil, so no doubt they will be on the market again next year at a "normal" price

Anyhow, there's plenty of guys using FX IV's in Brazil (Dennis Littel is on an F2 2005 board I believe?) so its not only Starboard. Its a good thing for Formula, and will go hand in hand with the new 2-year locked boards rule, as new people coming into the sport don't have to buy the latest boards to be competitive. Its helping us here in Australia and we're already getting the numbers up to +40 FW guys in our local events in Sydney.

* Mark H: What's wrong with high-wind formula? Pretty much everyone I know on the tour likes high-wind FW. Brazil, was the most highly anticipated event this year simply because everyone knew it was going to be windy there!